His ankle, the one he injured three weeks ago in a loss at SMU, was hurting after his key fourth-quarter sack of Tulane's Ryan Griffin, but Johnnie Farms walked it off and pointed to the crowd. He wanted to celebrate.

And why not?

A Memphis defense that has struggled during the program's difficult recent past stepped up in Saturday night's 37-23 Conference USA victory over Tulane. Farms' sack resulted in a fumble that he recovered and came a few minutes after he and his teammates had stopped Tulane on a key goal-line stand.

Farms said the defense's success had a lot to do with a switch, for the first time this season, to a four-man front.

"It was a great performance," Farms said. "We moved to a four-man, we tried something new this game and it kind of paid off for us. We had fun out there.

"The goal-line stop was big. We didn't back down."

Tulane had a first-and-goal from the Tiger 4-yard line in the closing minute of the third quarter and gained three yards on second-and-goal to the 1. But the Tiger defense dug in and stopped Tulane running back Orleans Darkwa twice, and the Tigers took over on downs at their 3.

U of M defensive end Corey Jones was credited with the stop of Darkwa on fourth-and-goal from the 1, a tackle for loss of 2 yards.

"I loved the four-down; I enjoy playing the four-down," Jones said. "I think it brought more pressure on (Griffin). It got more defensive linemen in the game. Their offensive line couldn't just pick on four guys. If they double-teamed someone, someone was going to be open."

Memphis played both nose tackles — Terry Redden and Farms — instead of rotating the duo. Griffin, averaging more than 450 yards passing the last two games, was held to 211 yards passing and intercepted three times. He was sacked three times.

"I thought (the defense) played well, they played admirably," said Tiger coach Justin Fuente. "(Tulane's offense) had put up a lot of points and that is a very good quarterback. We had to make them earn everything they got and I thought the defense did a good job of keeping everything in front of them and then kind of asserting themselves and making some plays."

FOURTH-DOWN SUCCESS

After converting on six of seven fourth downs in last weekend's loss at Marshall, the Tigers converted on two of four opportunities against Tulane. One came on fourth-and-one from the Tulane 24 early in the fourth quarter and extended a key scoring drive that gave the Tigers a 30-16 lead.

Memphis also converted on fourth-and-three from the Tulane 47 on its opening series, ending that drive with a touchdown.

Quarterback Jacob Karam got the first-quarter conversion on a keeper and completed a 19-yard pass to Alan Cross in the fourth.

"We want to go for it every time," Karam said. "That's what we tell (coach Fuente).

"We seem to be pretty good at it. ... It's fun for us. That makes us aggressive on offense."

END GAME

Saturday's game against Tulane likely marked the Tigers' last for the foreseeable future against the Green Wave. The U of M's move to the Big East next season will halt a series that has been played consistently since 1976. The Tigers and Green Wave were founding members of Conference USA in 1996.

PERFECT leg

Tulane kicker Cairo Santos is now 17-for-17 this season after hitting attempts from 45, 43 and 30 yards Saturday night. The Lou Groza Award finalist is 41 of 51 for his career, and has hit nine of 40 yards or more, including a 57-yarder against Rice.